When doctors at the Northwest Kidney Centers encouraged Edmonds resident Cris Jaimes to try home nocturnal hemodialysis, he knew the treatment would change how he lived with kidney disease.
At first, he wasn’t sure he could do it. The machine was new, and switching from his usual routine of receiving treatment at the center three days a week to managing his own treatment five days a week at home was a considerable undertaking. He would also need his family to help administer his treatment.
Eventually, the choice was clear for the father of four.
“At the beginning it was a little hard to adjust,” Jaimes said. “Of course I was nervous. My family, everyone was nervous.”
Jaimes works for the Edmonds School District as a custodian at Madrona Elementary during the week and as a server in the banquet department at the Space Needle on weekends. He relies on his daughters and his wife, Raquel, to set up the dialysis machine and help prepare him for treatment when he arrives home.
At 14 and 11 years old, daughters Katie and Jenny learned how to help him with his treatment. Two years later, both girls continue to help their dad receive home treatment.
“We put everything together by the time he gets home,” said Katie, now 16. “It’s up to us to make sure it goes well.”
Helping their father is a routine, said Jenny, 13.
“Usually my friends will ask me if I’m scared but I say no, you just have to get used to it,” she said. “I’ve done it for so long it doesn’t bother me anymore.”
The dialysis machine, which Jaimes jokingly refers to as a microwave, moves his blood through slowly — while he’s asleep — performing the function of kidneys he doesn’t have.
“At home I have more free time,” Jaimes said. “I can spend more time with my family or friends … life is almost normal.”
Life became less normal for Jaimes beginning in 1984 when he started having high blood pressure. Test after test ensued and he learned he no longer had 75 percent functionality of both his kidneys.
“At the time I knew about transplant only, I didn’t know anything about dialysis,” he said.
Jaimes continued to be on dialysis until he received his first kidney transplant in 1985. The kidney lasted two years and Jaimes received another transplant in 1989 that lasted for 14 years. In 2003, Jaimes went back on dialysis.
He is one of 60 patients from Northwest Kidney Centers who use home dialysis, according to Joyce Jackson, president and chief executive officer of Northwest Kidney Centers. Only 10 of those on home dialysis have elected to use the nocturnal treatment.
“It’s a different thing to think about doing dialysis while asleep,” Jackson said. “It really is something that someone has to be highly motivated to do. (Jaimes) is really a pioneer.”
Jaimes is motivated to try whatever new treatment may come his direction, he said. If all goes well he could receive a kidney from his oldest son, Albert. Or maybe someday he’ll be among the first to receive an artificial kidney.
“If something new comes up I will be right there, jumping to try it,” he said.
Kidney disease affects some 695,000 people statewide, according to the Northwest Kidney Centers. In the Seattle area, approximately 41,600 people have kidney disease, which often has no symptoms until very late in the disease. Those at risk include people over age 60, those with high blood pressure, diabetes or a family history of kidney disease.
For more information about kidney disease or treatment, visit www.nwkidney.org.
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